ˈthumb-ring
a. A ring formerly worn on the thumb.
Often engraved with a seal, or inscribed with a posy.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 365, I could haue crept into any Aldermans Thumbe-Ring. 1639 H. Glapthorne Wit in a Constable iv. i. (1640) F ij, An Alderman..has no more Wit then the rest oth' bench: what lies in's thumbe-ring. 1714 Spect. No. 614 ¶8 The large Thumb Ring,..given her by her Husband, quickly recommends her to some wealthy Neighbour. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 4 She was..none of your meagre thin Things, which..might have been drawn through an Alderman's Thumb-Ring. 1877 Smith & Wace's Dict. Chr. Biog. I. 728/1 (Cuthbert) A plain massive thumb-ring, with a sapphire set in it. 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 28 A thumb-ring of unusual magnitude and of costly material. |
| attrib. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. iii, Instead of well siz'd periods, he greets us with a quantity of thumring posies. |
b. A ring for the thumb on the guard of a dagger or sword; also each of a pair of rings on the hilt of a dagger by means of which it may be fastened to a staff.
c. Archery. (See
quot. 1893.)
| [1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Larynx, A ring which the Turks put on their thumb for the drawing of their bows.] 1893 Smithsonian Rep. 637 Thumb ring, a ring worn on the thumb in archery by those peoples that use the Mongolian release; called sefin by the Persians. 1907 Payne-Gallwey Projectile-Throwing Engines ii. 12, I can bend a strong bow much easier and draw it a great deal farther with the Turkish thumb-ring than I can with the ordinary European finger-grip. |